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Environmental impact of digital technology in business: how to reduce it

May 13, 2025

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10 min read

The environmental impact of digital technology is a major challenge for the coming years. In this article, you'll learn how to reduce this impact in your company's daily operations.

Although the concept of energy efficiency is becoming increasingly widespread, it can often be a somewhat intimidating one for SMEs. They often don't really know where to start or whether their efforts will actually have an impact on the environment.

However, improving the energy efficiency of your business, even a small one, will always be beneficial for the environment and also for your wallet!

In this article, we give you simple tips to implement within your company to reduce the environmental impact of digital technology (and more!).

How to reduce the environmental impact of digital technology in business?

1. Emails

Limit emails to the essentials: not all emails require a response, and some exchanges may be more effective over the phone, for example.

Delete old emails to avoid storing them unnecessarily, especially those containing attachments.

Avoid sending large attachments to multiple recipients.

2. Data storage

Favor cloud storage or shared servers over individual, energy-inefficient servers.

Uninstall unused software to free up unnecessarily occupied storage space.

Similarly, delete unnecessary and/or obsolete files.

Avoid duplicates and multiple versions of documents.

Archive documents you don't need regularly instead of keeping them in your regular storage space.

3. Electronic equipment

Upon purchase:

Visit the EPEAT website to learn about the environmental benefits of purchasing electronics. Choose Gold-certified devices.
Choose appliances with Energy Star certification , as these appliances have been certified as being highly energy efficient.
Choose multifunctional devices: instead of buying a printer, a scanner and a photocopier, choose a three-in-one.
Choose refurbished devices whenever possible.
Avoid over-equipping yourself; only buy what you really need.

Daily use

Do not put on standby, turn off devices after use.

Optimize the use and lifespan of your electronic tools: call on the experts at PAL-TI!

Repair instead of replacing whenever possible.

Managing old devices:

Use your devices as long as they are functional and useful to you.

Choose refurbished equipment whenever possible.

When your devices become useless to you, choose a sustainable solution to get rid of them. We tell you all about it in our article: How to properly dispose of your electronic devices .

To go further

4. The paper

Avoid printing as much as possible.

Identify tasks that require the use of paper and try to digitize them.

If printing is necessary, set the printer to “eco” mode.

Prefer to use recycled paper.

5. Travel

Offer your employees, if possible, the option to work remotely a few days a week, thereby limiting their travel.

Avoid non-essential business travel. Some topics can be addressed by phone or videoconference (as 2020 has proven to be true).

6. Heating and air conditioning

Reduce heating by reusing the thermal energy produced by your electronic devices.

Heat only the spaces that need it.

Prefer to use fans instead of air conditioning if the heat permits.

Ventilate the premises in the morning when it is still cool.

In summary

By applying these tips on a daily basis in your business, you will quickly reduce your environmental impact and will also notice that your electricity and IT equipment costs will decrease.

Furthermore, this will also most likely give you an advantage with your customers. As consumers become increasingly aware of environmental issues, they are increasingly turning to companies that pay particular attention to their environmental impact.

As you will have understood, energy efficiency can prove to be a real strategic asset allowing you to achieve your environmental but also economic and social objectives!

So start reducing the environmental impact of digital technology in your business with PAL-TI!

About Nexxo

Nexxo Computer Solutions specializes in providing IT and technology services to Quebec businesses. Its mission is to offer Quebec companies IT services tailored to their needs. Acting as an external IT department, it handles all of a company's IT tasks, allowing it to focus on its business activities. It achieves this by collaborating closely with its clients and putting their interests at the center of its concerns.

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